Naver's Q3 net dips 24%

Naver Corp., South Korea's No. 1 Internet portal operator, said Thursday its third-quarter net profit fell 24 percent from a year earlier due largely to a one-off factor.

But it performed better overall compared with the previous three months, backed by solid growth in advertising revenue generated from its offshore mobile and content businesses.

Net income amounted to 116.8 billion won ($103.2 million) in the July-September period, compared with 153.7 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The figure fell far short of the median estimate of 139 billion won in a poll surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.

The decline in the third-quarter net profit was attributed mainly to a high base effect, as the company's net surged during the same period a year ago on a strong performance by its Japanese subsidiary Line Corp.

Compared with three months ago, Naver has fared better in the third quarter, with operating profit gaining 19.4 percent.

Operating profit came to 119.5 billion won, up 5.6 percent from a year ago, with sales soaring 20 percent on-year to 839.7 billion won over the cited period.

The on-year sales growth came heavily from overseas, the company said, where its latest visual media content platforms launched in offshore markets have seen great user demand.

Naver released "V", a real-time video streaming app which mainly features popular Korean celebrities including K-pop singers, bolstering its footing outside home turf.

V drew 610,000 downloads from 170 countries around the world on the first day of its launch in July.

"Its 67 channels connect fans to their favorite stars, with some of the top celebrities from Vietnam soon to join the platform.

We're pinning our hopes high on the broadcast," Kim Sang-hun, the head of Naver said during the conference call.

Its revenue from the content business, which took up about 30 percent of its entire sales, jumped 27.7 percent on-year to 244.1 billion won.

Naver's ad revenue, the firm's main source of profit, also rose 17.9 percent on-year to 587 billion won, fueled by the gain from mobile ads that accounted for 40 percent of overall ad sales.

Line posted 32.2 billion yen ($267.6 million) in sales for the third quarter, up 35.4 percent from a year earlier.

Its monthly active users, a key gauge of growth, reached 212 million, with a significant increase of 7 million in Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia altogether.

Shares of Naver hiked 3 percent to 594,000 won as of 10:50 a.m. on the Seoul bourse on Thursday. The earnings result came before the stock market opened. (Yonhap)